Exhibition “Unweave, Unveil: Chiral Landscapes of Exile”
About the exhibition
The exhibition Unweave, Unveil: Chiral Landscapes of Exile is a dialogue between two artists, Eugenia Reznik and Patil Tchilinguirian, based on the intimate narratives of uprootedness and the sense of belonging that the artists bring back from their encounters. Eugenia Reznik, born in Ukraine, currently lives between France and Quebec. Patil Tchilinguirian, was born in Lebanon and comes from an Armenian family, lives in Quebec. The exhibition’s title alludes to the concept of chirality[1] to designate a strategy of artistic collaboration. Their experiences as expatriates have led them to pay extreme attention to listening to themselves and to others. The works on display intertwine fibres and language; through the artists’ textile practices and oral histories, they present a body of work in the form of sound installations, sculptures, videos, drawings and embroideries. Therefore, the artists give a voice to the silenced people or the minorities in our society. One thing leading to another, Reznik and Tchilinguirian reflect on cultural identities, their preservation and regeneration. The exhibition thus claims, in a fleshed-out voice, a space for granting political agency to the lost or buried histories that everyone carries within.
[1] The world chirality is derived from the Greek χείρ (kheír), meaning “hand”. It refers to the property of an object that exists in two forms that are mirrored and cannot be superposed.
L’Imagier’s team, as well as the artists and the curator expressly state their solidarity with the Ukrainian people in their fight against the Russian invasion. They also show their support for all those who, in Russia and beyond, are mobilizing against the crime perpetrated in their name. The exhibition Unweave, Unveil: Chiral Landscapes of Exile is a manifesto on the importance of listening and of connections made with one’s own cultures and those of others.
The exhibition is accompanied by an essay by curator Anna Kerekes, entitled Listening, Weaving, Developing Kinships.
Activities
- Opening night: Friday, April 8, at 6 p.m., with the curator and the artists.
- Conversation: Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m. at L’Imagier.
- Performance by the artists: Saturday, April 9, at 3:30 p.m. at L’Imagier.
- Guided Tours Histoires de plantes: Saturdays June 25 and October 1 at 4 p.m. at L’Imagier.
- Artists’ Guided Tour: Sunday August 28 at 3 p.m. at L’Imagier.
- Embroidery Workshop: Saturday August 27 at 1 p.m. at L’Imagier.
- Schedule: Wednesdays and Thursdays on request, Fridays from noon to 4pm, and Saturdays and Sundays from noon to 5pm, from April 8 to July 31, 2022.
Biographies
Eugenia Reznik is an artist of Ukrainian origin who lives and works between France and Quebec. She holds a master’s degree in visual and media arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal and is pursuing her doctoral studies in art studies and practices at the Université du Québec à Montréal in cotutelle with the Université Jean-Monnet de Saint-Étienne in France. Her artistic research focuses on the issues of uprooting, transmission of memory and forgetting. She collects stories of displaced people and transforms them into visual or sound works, in galleries or public spaces. In her most recent projects, the artist has been interested in the plants that people carry on migration and how these plants testify to the links that people keep with their places of origin.
Patil Tchilinguirian is a Lebanese-Armenian multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Following a degree in graphic design, she turned to the art of fiber and wearable technologies as part of a master’s degree in design at Concordia University. She combines craft and technology to interweave interactive storytelling and textile design. Her artistic practice reflects a social engagement driven by transnational, diasporic and political narratives determined by cultural trauma to reveal unknown histories of suffering. Patil Tchilinguirian views fabric as a space for dialogue – both aesthetic and affective – with the power to amplify embodied experience. Passionate about cultural sustainability and alternative modes of transmission, her work blurs the boundaries between design and art in order to raise public awareness of socio-cultural issues.
Curator, artist and researcher Anna Kerekes holds a PhD in art studies and practices from the Université du Québec à Montréal. She embraces research-creation as a modus operandi throughout her hybrid practices. Since 2018, at the invitation of Nicolas Bourriaud, she is a senior curator at MO.CO. Montpellier Contemporain where she develops exhibition projects, talks and publications. She also intervenes at MO.CO. Esba (Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts) and teaches at the Ecole Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Nîmes. Her collaboration with Jonas Mekas has transformed the way she combines notions of memory and everyday life through artistic practices. Her independent curatorial projects include Taking Care (Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, 2018) and Jonas Mekas. In the Praise of the Ordinary (Phi Center, Montreal, 2013).
The exhibition is made possible thanks to the support of Hexagram and the Fonds de recherche Société et culture du Québec. L’Imagier thanks the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the City of Gatineau for their financial support.